BOEING B-17 "Flying Fortress"
Thursday, October 14, 2010
What Causes Fingers To Be Numb
B-17G of the Squadron, 477 Bombardment Group
(marked with green stripes) of the 8th . Air Force,
based in Norfolk. England, 1944-1945.
This aircraft belonged to 709 Squadron as previously
white paint is visible through descacaramiento
yellow paint (other than 711) of the fairings
engines.
mobile surfaces are painted rudders
with dull olive green.
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Among the aircraft that made history, not just aviation figure in the foreground the Flying Fortress, the aircraft like the Liberator came closer than any other in the performances and use can be made of it, to the ideas of Douhet about the means to exercise the "air power" over the enemy.
Manufactured by 12,731 copies, the American four-day allowed for heavy attacks on Germany, carried out by huge formations arranged in a "box" to increase the effectiveness of mutual support. Availability number allowed to move at the same time many Pacific aircraft to the front and provide 169 of these to the RAF.
The Boeig B-17G-version that we take into consideration as especially representative of the entire series, was a four-to low-wing cantilever all-metal construction, with considerable cross-shaped surface stabilizers and tricycle landing gear fully back Retractable.
The wing built with symmetric biconvex profile, had a structure with two beams of light alloy tubular moldings, joined by a diagonal grid of riveted, with many ribs arranged in a grid. The coating was avional sheets, reinforced by a internal coating corrugated sheet. The two wing were attached directly through joints of high strength steel in the fuselage sides, whose maximum diameter was about twice the thickness of the wing appeared in the root, and in each of these was subdivided into three different elements , the inner section, with two gondolas and motor stud landing gear, the outer section, on which lay the spoiler coated fabric (with maximum angles of + - 12 degrees) and finally the wing tips.
The wing was fitted with large flaps of soffit constant string in the corner maximum of 45 °, reduced the rate of support about fifteen km / h. The wing structure was fairly light, weighing about 20 kg per square meter, extremely resistant, was capable of causing serious damage without giving much importance.
The fuselage, which is circular, consisted of a set of nine elements, the bow, the tube, the section that housed the cockpit, the central section incorporating the bomb bay, the center-rear section , the tapered rear section to which were attached the stabilizers, the cone terminal with the tail gunner's position, and the item covering the cockpit and joined the back of the fuselage.
The fuselage structure was based on a compact set of Z-section frames, in three resistant beams in double exclusion T (two dorsal and ventral) and in many reinforcing stringers L.
The trapezoidal horizontal tailplane, and the vertical fin to the property had all-metal structure on surfaces coated fixed and mobile web for. The rudder and the two Semi-raised, like the left wing, were fitted with corrective fins while the leading edge of the fixed surfaces, the external wing of the sections of the wing between the engine nacelle inner and outer bands were fitted with rubber tires thawing.
The studs above the landing gear, fitted with air / oil shock absorbers and wheels of 1,424 meters in diameter, covered with cloth sixteen , electrically retracted internal drive shelves with forward rotation, but not completely hide there. The tail wheel, arranged in very advanced position, he withdrew into the belly of the fuselage, turning back.
motors B-17G was the star of nine-cylinder Wright Cyclone R-1820, with gear, Bendix injection carburetor and discharge gas turbochargers with General Electric B 22, equipped with electronic control systems, Minneapolis Honeywell installed in the belly of the drive aisles, and receiving the air to power the motor and the internal cooling groups making mouths arranged on the wing leading edge. The engines were installed in nacelles well aerodynamically shaped, attached to benches in steel tubes and were isolated by bulkheads plane flame sheet steel. These power three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller constant speed of 3.53 meters in diameter, with the possibility of feathering and defrosting liquid surface.
The power supply was always, in all B-17, perhaps the least satisfactory, revealing quite vulnerable to enemy attacks. This consisted, in addition to the various pipes, pumps, valves, filters and control bodies, by no less than twenty-four wing tanks (arranged two between the wing from the fuselage and nacelles internal drive, four between the motor and eighteen gondolas on the outside of these)
all self-sealing type, to which could add additional tanks installed in the bomb bay for long-haul flights, which had total capacity of the team consisting of 10,533 to 13,627 liters. The lubricant, for a total of 560 liters, was contained in four self-sealing tanks, installed in the drive aisles in the back of the bulkhead flame.
Great care had been put on the problem of securing a job easy and safe even in long-range aircraft and the highest peaks and the B-17G had, in fact, autopilot, for four different networks gaseous oxygen inhalation of a heating device powered by a glycol heat generator, installed in the left internal engine nacelle. They were also highly developed communications radios and navigation, the aircraft was provided, including, intercom equipment for the crew.
The defensive armament of the B-17G was certainly one of the most effective and best studied of all installed on the bombers of the Second World War. Was based on no less than thirteen 12.7 mm machine guns located two on each of the turrets caudal, dorsal, ventral and anterior debajo de la gran trompa transparente. A esta ocho armas se sumaban las dos laterales, para la defensa de los laterales del fuselaje, la dorsal (comunmente ausente) ubicada en el compartimiento del radiotelegrafista y las dos instaladas a los lados de la trompa. La carga de bombas, excepto en las misiones de cortas distancias, era por el contrario bastante limitada, no superando habitualmente los 2.500 kg, a pesar de que (muy raramente) la aplicación de viguetas portabombas debajo de la raiz del ala permitía llevar la carga ofensiva a 9.454 kg, en misiones de poco alcance. La mira de puntería giroscópica Norden, instalada en la gran trompa transparente, permitía una buena precisión de tiro, a pesar de que el empleo del bombardero Boeing in large formations (with components on the target simultaneously unhooked) and from very high altitude was detrimental to the accuracy of the sight. Finally, the plane was equipped with heavy armor to protect the crew. For open tender in May 1934 for a plurimotor bomber, Boeing redesigned the civil transport methods Model 247 by means of improvements already made to the giant four-engine bomber Model 294, then under construction by the acronym XBLR- 1 (later replaced by XB-15) for a four relatively small but abundant engine power and the latest possible. The prototype (which was not the designation XB-17) began flying on July 28, 1935 in Seattle, pilot Les R. Tower. On August 20, he moved to Wright Field for the official tests, covering 3,400 km of the route in just nine hours nonstop. However, the prototype was destroyed on October 30 in an accident that did not undermine, however, won confidence during the tests, so much so he ordered a pre-series of thirteen Y1B-17, different engine prototype (Wright GR-1820-39 930 horses instead of the P & W R-1690E "Hornet" from 750) and the crew of nine instead of eight.
were many variations and transformations bombers for other tasks, from transport (C-108) the photographic identification (16 F-9), experimental release of radio-glider bombs, the Marine Distress (130 B-17h, then SG-17G), employment and white radio controls (DB-17) or as flying bombs radio controls (about twenty of the version BQ-7), the most diverse experimental features.
Twelve Y1B-17 team since the summer of 1937 the 2 nd Bomb Group of the USAir Corps, distinguished in bright tours in Latin America and "intercepting" a long way from American shores some transatlantic ships overseas, including Italian Rex. The episode sucite diplomatic protests and gave great fame to the big bombers.
war The first job I had twenty B-17C delivered to the RAF which entered service with 90 Squadron in May 1941 under the name of Fortress I. Were employed mainly in individual actions against German naval bases (also in the Netherlands and Norway) and this tactic, along with several deficiencies of the aircraft, led to disappointing results: in 51 aircraft missions isolated, 26 failed for technical reasons and returned Strengths without having thrown bombs. Therefore, the planes were sent to the Middle East, where they operated against the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean and carried out actions on Benghazi night and in October 1942 as Scotland went assigned to Coastal Command for maritime reconnaissance.
On the American side, 33 aircraft models C and D were in the Philippines, Hawaii and others in the other twelve were getting there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Most of the four-engined completed destroyed in the fields, but on 10 December, three of the twenty surviving aircraft made the first offensive action of American aviation in World War II, attacking Japanese ships, before the 19 Group retire to Australia. The following month, the unit moved to Java for resuming offensive, and received the first B-17E, which operated in the Pacific especially for the recognition of powerful, proving to be very valuable, particularly the June 4, 1942, when they participated in the Battle of Midway.
can not help but remember the job that the Germans and Japanese did in the Flying Fortress. The first arrived about twenty copies have airworthy, and equipped with them a special operations unit of a different nature, from the recognition of "cheating" against American planes identical (the USAAF reacted with a similar ploy, putting as bait to a YB-40) and the latter succeeded in reconstructing three strengths of the remains left in the conquered areas, giving similar to the intended use by the Germans, although on a smaller scale.
Finally, after the war, three B-17G became part of the nascent Israeli aircraft, acting psychological action in the war of 1948. A peaceful uses were, however, the few examples provided to the Dominican Republic and Brazil, while six Strengths confiscated by the Swedish government after it landed in its territory during the war, had been transformed directly into civilian transport. After the war, the B-17 also found employment as a "water bomber" for fighting forest fires and a plane photogrammetry to French geographical school.
Information obtained from the work Storia dell Aviazione.
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